Now We're In Trouble
by PumpkinSpiceHedgehog
Summary: Trapped on a desert island, Sonic and Tails are forced to make the finding of water their first priority... but what problem does Knuckles have with this? /Short oneshot/


**A/N: Hello, and welcome to my first published story! This was written as part of a oneshot challenge with my best friend last summer; since it's my favorite of the ones I came up with, I decided it would make a good test for uploading. Enjoy!**

"How long has it been, Sonic?"

In response, Sonic turned to look at the trunk of a nearby tree, which already had several marks carved into it like tally marks. He picked up an old pocketknife from the ground and etched another tally into the count, saying, "Fifteen days. A little more than two weeks."

Tails studied the tallies himself with big, dark eyes, still too young to fully understand what they meant. "I miss everybody else, Sonic."

Sonic bit his lip. "Me, too, lil' buddy. But it's not all bad; we're okay, and hopefully they'll send a rescue ship after us before long."

"I hope so. I don't wanna eat coconuts for the rest of my life. They taste funny."

The blue hedgehog laughed. "Then how's about we go find us some water? We're not far from the spring."

"Yeah!" Tails was quick to spring into the air, run out of the little hut they had built out of branches and leaves, and take off toward the woods at speeds Sonic could be proud of (at least for someone who wasn't even four years old yet).

The speed demon easily caught up, laughing easily, and led the way through the perilous forest. Not counting the tangled vines and out-of-control tree branches, the forest was teeming with wildlife—wildlife which the young adventurers hadn't met yet, thankfully, but which they were unwilling to meet face-to-face. In the two weeks since they had been unceremoniously cast onto this unknown island, they had seen butterflies big enough to carry them off and mosquitoes numerous enough to eat them alive; neither wanted to imagine what the "bigger" inhabitants of this island consisted of.

"Oh, no!" Tails cried once they'd reached the clearing where the freshwater spring was—or was supposed to be. "It's gone!"

"Look!" Sonic pointed at a huge boulder, sitting atop a hill of many smaller rocks in the smack-dab middle of the crevice in the earth where a flowing stream should have been. "There must have been a rockslide last night. It dammed the river!"

"But Sonic, you said we shouldn't drink water that stands still," Tails pointed out slowly. "You said there was mosquitoes in it."

In truth, Sonic didn't know how long it took for stagnant water to attract bugs. That was why he shook his head. "You're right. Let's go see if we can find something else."

"I'm thirsty."

"I know, me too."

Several hours of searching yielded nothing in the way of fresh water. To make matters worse, the summertime heat seemed to be multiplied tenfold on this island, and the two intrepid explorers were soon thirsty, hungry, overheated, and exhausted.

"I'm tired, Sonic," whined Tails.

Sonic pulled the fox from his sitting position back to his feet, saying, "Hang in there, buddy, we've gotta be close." He didn't let on how he was getting worried; he couldn't hear so much as a splash, and Tails was still so little to be out in these conditions...

Some part of him wasn't surprised when Tails resisted being moved. "I don't wanna keep going," he declared.

"No," Sonic's voice rose sharply, "don't make me carry you, Tails, c'mon, we gotta find—Tails!"

The little fox had curled up in the grass, trying to get comfortable enough on the rough, scratchy surface to take a nap. Knowing how easily Tails could sleep just about anywhere, Sonic roughly picked him up—which was awkward since he himself was just barely eleven years old and a still a little small to be handling an almost-four-year-old—and shook him awake. He said nothing, however, and picked up the pace despite his own lack of energy. _Shoulda done this in the evening, without the sun._

By the time they finally found another stream, apparently deep in the island's depths, Tails was barely awake and Sonic was almost ready to collapse. The hedgehog practically dropped his friend before falling headfirst into the sandy riverbank, startling Tails into awareness; Tails's smart brain worked quickly to discern what needed to be done to help him. Panting, he crawled over to the water and, without thinking, jumped in and splashed as hard as he could, sending a wave of water crashing onto the shore and, consequently, onto Sonic. The hedgehog promptly shouted and staggered to his feet.

"Tails!"

"What? You said we needed to find water, but you weren't doing anything with it!"

"I didn't wanna be _splashed!_ Don't you know what dramatic effect looks like?"

"_What in Chaos' name are you two doing?!"_

Both friends froze and turned slowly to face a fuming red figure that was stomping up onto the scene. "Hey, look, Sonic," Tails weakly managed, "it's the rescue ship."

"Hey, Knux," Sonic greeted with a lopsided grin. "What–"

"I heard screaming up here and I thought someone was after the emeralds!" Knuckles roared, storming straight into Sonic's face. "What do you two think you're doing, playing around up here?!"

"We're castaways," Tails offered sweetly, failing to notice Sonic slashing his hand across his throat and shaking his head. "We're dying of dehydration and trying to find water."

Knuckles was perfectly silent for a long time.

"It's fun," Tails added cheerfully. "Wanna play with us?"

Later, as Sonic was leading Tails home and nursing an aching jaw, he flatly told his little friend, "No, Tails, I don't think he wanted to play."


End file.
